Shropshire

Shropshire is a largely rural county on the Welsh border in the West Midlands of England, characterised by a varied landscape of hills, plains, and river valleys. The county is bounded to the south by the uplands of the Long Mynd, the Stiperstones, and the Welsh Marches, while the north is dominated by the glacial meres and mosses of the Cheshire–Shropshire plain. Ironbridge Gorge, in the east of the county, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site commemorating the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, where Abraham Darby first smelted iron with coke in 1709. Shrewsbury, the county town, is an exceptionally well-preserved medieval town set within a loop of the River Severn.